Regional Growing Guide: Middle South
Hot, hazy and humid describes much of the year in this region, where roses commence their first peak of bloom by Mother's Day, then continue budding out and blooming through December. While most of the rain comes during winter and early spring, fierce afternoon thunderstorms, nor-easters and even hurricanes may blow through during summer months. The soil may be acidic or sandy: amending with lime helps balance the pH, while compost provides nutrients and improves drainage. The best roses are heat tolerant and resist black spot: new roses often offer improved repeat blooming as well.
Select a season: Spring Early Summer Late Summer Fall
Fair Care for Roses
Now that roses have wowed us with their big burst of blooms, what comes next? The answer is simple, and it has nothing to do with types, varieties, and whether or not the rose in question will make more blooms this summer. All roses want to do right now is grow, so our job is to help them do just that.
We often fall into the trap of thinking of roses as bud-producing machines. Sure, roses please us by putting substantial energy into the development of elegant blossoms, but their integrity as plants comes first. Don't even think about blooms right now, except maybe to say thank you for the few that are lingering on. Instead, consider your plant's situation in terms of light, food and water.
Inviting the Sun
Light is the fundamental energy source for all green plants, and roses need lots of it. Prune your plants to remove canes that have gone gray with age, those that are a mess of faded blossoms, and stems arising from below the graft union of grafted plants. But with every cut, consider how your pruning will increase the amount of light that remaining stems receive. Summer rose pruning is a balancing act: Good light penetration reduces possible problems with blackspot and other fungal diseases, but retaining leaves keeps the plants better equipped to make use of solar energy. Think about this as you snip.
Root Zone Requirements
Rose roots work hard, too, and this is an ideal time to feed plants with an organic rose food. We like to rake back the mulch and spread granular fertilizer over the soil. Then install a soaker hose before replacing the mulch, because you never know when a summer drought will descend. But with fair care, my roses are ready for anything.
Keeping Beautiful Roses Disease-Free
Roses are a favorite in so many gardens. But let's face it, those gorgeous flowers are sometimes accompanied by various rose diseases and pests. Is there an alternative to regular pesticide applications to keep these beauties producing the blossoms we so covet? Definitley, but it takes starting with the right rose and just a little care throughout the season.
Resistant Varieties
The first practice of a good rose grower should be to grow disease-resistant roses. Chosing any of the our AARS winning roses is a perfect place to start. You can visit one of our accredited public rose gardens to see these roses in the garden environment and chose the one that will be perfect for your needs. This will start you on your way to selecting roses for your own garden.
Another way to find the right rose for your garden is to read the most recent literature and catalogs. Breeders are constantly working on developing resistant roses, and the varieties available are expanded every year. One tip: a rose with a particularly leathery, puckered leaf is usually more resistant to leaf problems than one with smooth leaves.
The most common rose diseases are black spot, rust, and powdery mildew. All are fungal diseases, spread by spores being washed or blown onto leaves and stems.
Learn to Recognize Diseases
Black spot starts as tiny black flecks that turn into larger circular black spots. Eventually the spots coalesce into large lesions and cause the leaf to yellow and fall off. The spots appear on leaves and stems, and spend the winter on fallen leaves and infected canes.
Powdery mildew appears first as very small blister-like areas on young leaves, causing them to pucker. As spores reproduce, the leaf and flower buds become covered with a gray-white powder.
Rust, as the name implies, appears as rust-colored spots on foliage.
Preventive Strategies
Research has shown that black spot spreads most readily when foliage is wet. Therefore, planting in full sun, pruning to keep the shrubs open to circulation, and watering only at ground level will help prevent infection.
Powdery mildew, however, is best prevented by wetting the leaves since it needs dry conditions to thrive. A strong water spray several times a week will help prevent infection. As a bonus, this also helps control pests such as aphids and spider mites.
Another preventive method for diseases is to remove all foliage on the plant and on the ground in late fall, and to prune the tips of the canes. Both pathogens overwinter in fallen tissue and in the leaf buds just below the flowers. Pruning and clean-up get rid of many overwintering spores. If the canes are badly infected, a rose can be pruned to 4 to 6 inches from the graft with no harm.